There is a myth of creativity that if you could only have 6 months off work and write fulltime, then you would write that award-winning novel. It’s not true! When you have all the time in the world, you do far less than if you are under a deadline. The day job squashes your writing time into the hours you can spare – lunch hours, commuting time, hours when you would have watched TV, after the kids have gone to bed. Don’t wait until you have all the time in the world as that time may never come. Take advantage of where you are now and get writing!
I’ve absolutely found this to be true.
Give me two days to write and I’ll be unproductive. Give me two hours and I’ll somehow find a way to produce the goods.
To me, it just adds to my argument that the notion of a writer’s muse is simply old-fashioned twaddle. It’s a convenient myth that writers use to mask their insecurities and, in some cases, lack of skill.
Basically…
If you tell me that your sweet little kitteh has been hit by a car and you’re not in the right frame of mind to write, I’ll say fine, fair enough.
If you tell me that your muse is silent and you need that magic spark to ignite your very being, I’ll tell you to shut the heck up and get on with it.
Either way, check out this excellent post on Joanna’s excellent blog.
“Writer’s block…a lot of howling nonsense would be avoided if, in every sentence containing the word WRITER, that word was taken out and the word PLUMBER substituted; and the result examined for the sense it makes. Do plumbers get plumber’s block? What would you think of a plumber who used that as an excuse not to do any work that day?”
- Philip Pullman
Writers write. Period. Sometimes what you produce is crap. Sometimes it’s not inspired, but still you must slog on and through. And really the only way to get to where the words flow easily is to make it through the spots where they barely flow at all.
Rely on your tools. Rely on your knowledge. Steal that shit.
“We have tools we can use. We know about structure and character and that sort of thing. Your tools are what you can use to get from island to island of inspiration.”
-Mike Myers
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“Writer’s block…a lot of howling nonsense would be avoided if, in every sentence containing the word WRITER, that word...
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